The Angel
by gilly boy
Summary: Everybody dies, but what happens to those that die young? *A remake of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Angel."*


**A/N: This was my contest entry a while back that I don't think I won; since I couldn't come up with anything I just flipped through my fairytales book, found this and decided to rewrite it. Have fun with it, REVIEW!**

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The Angel

Everyone dies; some meet their end earlier than others. Those that do meet their end early, and have good hearts, are guided to heaven by the angels.

A little boy lay in bed, dying. His family surrounded him; his mother clutched his hand tightly, as if holding on would keep him from leaving. The boy could feel the sickness eating away at him, slowing down his body. Nevertheless, he was smiling- smiling that his last sight would be of his family. The only thing dampening that smile were their sad faces.

"Don't be sad," he said, taking slow breaths, "I'll be watching from heaven. Smile for me."

They forced a smile- tears threatening to spill, some already spilled. Then he passed, leaving a crying family. He was only eight years old.

A few feet away was another boy, perhaps ten years old, watching the grieving family, unnoticed. At one point, the boy would've been jealous of the family; he hadn't had that benefit when he died. He didn't care now, he had a new family in heaven.

Stepping carefully, the reached for the body's hand and pulled the recently deceased soul to his feet, leaving the hollow body behind. The younger boy blinked, feeling disoriented before coming to focus on the other boy.

"Who are you?" asked the younger boy.

The second smiled, "I'm your guide to heaven."

The younger boy glanced at his weeping family.

"Don't worry about them," the other reassured, "As you said, you'll be watching from heaven. Eventually, they'll join us."

"Us?"

"Of course, everyone in heaven is family." The older boy had a faraway look as said this, remembering when he had first arrived. He offered his hand after coming back to the present.

The younger boy took the other boy's hand, and they both stepped towards the window. He looked back at his family; they'll meet again.

"Ready?" asked the older boy.

The little boy nodded.

"Then hold on tight," said the older boy with a grin, revealing magnificent white feathery wings. The little boy stared in awe, for he had never seen an angel besides in tapestries and mentions in the bible.

The angel leaped out into the night, the little boy in tow. Wind whipped through their hair as they soared above the roof tops; looking down at the unsuspecting people.

Being the child that he is, the boy attempted to play a harmless prank of stealing one's hat; sadly his hands slipped right through.

The angel laughed, "With your physical body left behind, you won't be able to touch anything. See," he said as he stuck his hand through someone's head. "But just because we can't touch something doesn't mean we still can't influence anything else." He scanned the people around them until they landed on a couple. "Watch this."

The couple, or the man to be more precise, was fumbling for words to impress the lady and impressed she was not. Putting the boy down first, the angel whispered instructions into the man's ear. The man repeated those instructions to the lady but along the way, there was a small mistake. As a last act of desperation, the man kissed her fully on the lips. The lady smiled and agreed on dinner.

The angel grinned at his handy work. He turned around to meet the wide eyes of a blushing boy. The angel shrugged, "Not my best work, but it'll do. Eventually those two will get married and have kids of their own." He sighed, "The girls are so much better at this. Anyway we still have some ways to go."

The boy nodded.

"Then what are you waiting for, grab on." With that, they were back in the air; visiting all the boy's favorite places in life.

Flying over a garden, the boy realized that they were descending.

"Why are we here?" asked the boy.

"This is your ticket to heaven; all children have to pick flowers to enter. These flowers will have a place in heaven to grow and sometimes, if the flower's special enough, God will be able to make it sing." The angel explained.

The boy's eyes glowed at the prospect of a singing flower, scanned the garden, and landed on a broken branch of a rose tree.

"Will this be good?" he asked.

The angel shrugged, "I don't know why God chooses the flowers he does but take it with you. You never know."

The boy continued to pick flowers until there was a loud sound of pottery breaking. He went to investigate and found a broken potted plant.

"You should take it with us," said the angel, looking over the boy's shoulder at the wilted plant.

"Why?"

The angel smiled, "Because, you could say, it saved a boy's life.

The boy looked amazed but couldn't help but ask "How?"

The angel had a far away appearance again and began to tell the tale.

* * *

There was boy of nine in an orphanage; nobody wanted him because he had a mild case of Ontogenesis imperfect, brittle bone disease. The parents that usually came by wanted a child that they could play rough with and someone with brittle bones could get seriously injured because of it. There was no cure and even if there was, the orphanage could pay for it.

The boy was becoming bitterer every time another kid walked out of the orphanage with their new parents. That was until a nun came by with a sack full of donations; everyone received something new, the boy received a potted plant.

There was nothing special about it, just a common field flower, and most considered it a weed.

However, the boy loved that field flower and placed it on his window sill; soon discovering that he had a talent for growing. For a weed, it grew into something beautiful under his care and along with it so did the boy, that bitterness he had was slowly disappearing.

A year passed and the boy died falling down the stairs, leaving the field flower behind. Without the boy's care, the field flower died and was eventually thrown out to be picked up by the eight year old and the angel.

"But how did it save the boy's life if he still died?" asked the eight year old.

"Because," smiled the angel, "of his growing bitterness, he may have done something that he would later regret and may have ended elsewhere instead of heaven."

"I would like to meet him when we get there," said the boy with enthusiasm.

"You already have," the angel's smile broadened.

The boy looked at the field flower and the angel with a new respect; he offered the field flower to the angel which the angel politely declined.

"We've picked enough, let's go," said the boy.

The angel nodded and lifted the boy into the air. Higher and higher they flew 'til they reached the gates of heaven. Upon entering, the boy stared in awe at the garden; it was massive with every type of flower a person could think of and more, some of them not even around anymore

There to greet them was none other than God himself. He held the boy close and kissed his head; wings like that of the angel appeared on the boy. Next, God brought the flowers the boy picked close to his heart but only kissed the wilted field flower. The field flower was revived and began to sing; the angels near and far, joined in to the sweet melodies of the field flower, a field flower that saved a boy's life after death.


End file.
